A Chica Around Town

Monthly Archives: July 2013

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Bistro Moncur is quite an institution in the Eastern Suburbs. Many families come here for Sunday lunches to be served by attentive and friendly staffs. Bistro Moncur is also my family’s favourite. I like coming here for the familiar surrounds and also because I can mentally summise what I would be ordering without consulting their menu. Their long-standing signature dishes are fish soup, salt cod brandade, grilled sirloin and pork sausages, which are smackers. To cater for the many regulars, they have also have a ‘specials of the day’ menu for more innovative seasonal dishes.

The restaurant is located inside Woollahra Hotel, an iconic art deco building which also houses a TAB where one can get a lighter and more casual fare.

The curved interior of the restaurant is made up of a series of timber joists with fabric underneath. I am guessing this is for sound insulation purposes for a busy restaurant with hard surfaces such as the hardwood floor, mirrors, and bricks. In any regards, the noise level was low, moreover, I have noticed from my stay overseas is that the children here tend to be very well-behaved without the howling and running amok that the kids in Asia do. (Having said that, a little girl did fell off her chair while trying to grab a fork but she did not make a racket, but got back on her chair quietly). Read up on the conservation and refurbishment project here.

Curved ceiling with arches in slated timber, made it a very acoustically controlled restaurant

The black-and-white Matisse-inspired wall murals by Michael Fitzjames adorned one side of the wall depicting humorous tales of the diners out in a restaurant e.g. 2 lovers dining in different tables next to each other, a pick-pocket lifting a wallet out the pocket of an unassuming diner among the few. This made for very interesting visuals.

Wall mural by Michael Fitzjames

Help waiter, there’s a snake in my salad!

Bar/ Coffee Counter

Complimentary crusty sourdough bread. I like sprinkling some salt over the buttered bread for an extra salty crunch.

Complimentary sourdough

My Bro’s usual is the Grilled Sirloin Cafe de Paris and Frites ($43.50 – wow, talk about inflation, it was $35 a few years back!). This is the Classic Parisian fare of steak and chips which is a fixture and signature of Bistro Moncur. The julienned frites are another hallmark of Bistro Moncur’s classic French cooking of potatoey goodness enveloped by the crispy shell. The taragon butter sauce drizzling the steak is a perfect accompaniment.

Grilled Sirloin Cafe de Paris and Frites ($43.50)

Mom’s Bouillabaisse was one of the specials for the day. It was a very rustic hearty fare perfect for a cold wintry’s day. There was a lot of seafood in it, thus smelt very strongly of seafood. Needless to say, she was the last to finish.

My Calves Liverwas also another special of the day. The pan seared livers cooked in caramelised onions imparts a sweet tangy taste. Although the livers were seared with the insides still pinkish, the liver was tough and a tad too chewy. The bubble and squeak of cabbage, parsley, peas, ham and potato mash was delicious, I could not resist finishing them up.

Pan fried Calves Liver, Bubble & Squeak and Onion Jus ($37.50)

We normally order a bowl of shoe-string fries to go with our meal, but decided to have a side salad of green beans with hazel nuts and eschalots instead. I can’t recall the waitress’s description of the beans, but needless to say, the long beans were very crunchy, the hazel nuts freshly roasted and the bitsy pulps of the tangy lemon balanced the grassy dish with a kick of acidity.

Green Beans with hazel nuts and eschalots ($11)

The tarte tartin and soufflé in Bistro Moncur are very famous, but today we decided to go for something different.

My Bro chose Peanut Butter & Milk Chocolate Delice, popcorn ice cream and Banana Puree($16.50). I did not get to taste, but since he left a clean plate, I was left in no doubt that he enjoyed it very much. I noted that the milk chocolate mousse was covered in dark chocolate ganache, and sprinkled with bits of caramel brittles and nuts. The Honey comb was set between the mousse and peanut butter ice-cream with pop corn on top.

For my first catch-up dinner with my bestie last Sunday, he suggested Ju Ge Mu & Shimbashi , a Japanese restaurant at Neutral Bay less than 15 minutes drive away from my home. The normally busy Military Road was surprisingly quiet and devoid of traffic, which made parking a breeze and we got the prized parking spot right in front of the restaurant.

Ju Ge Mu & Shimbashi is an interesting hyphenated name for a restaurant, so I did a quick search on the net. Apparently in Japan, restaurateurs concentrate on specialising, rather than offering a meal-for-all-seasons. Hence, Ju Ge Mu & Shimbashi wanting to give the best of both worlds in soba and teppanyaki successfully combined two specialty restaurants under one roof in a comfortable Japanese ambience.

Ju Ge Mu, the teppanyaki side, has dark timbers, red walls and a teppanyaki bar at the back where you can watch the action. Shimbashi is the yellow soba side with a soba making machine in front of the restaurant, and a traditional Japanese sitting area.

We ordered the 3-course set dinner ($50), but upgraded our soba option by paying $7 extra. There are 3 options for the main and soba courses. There is also a Duck Hot Pot Winter special for 2 people for $42 which seems reasonable.

To accompany our meal, we had a cold fruity, dry sake. Without any knowledge of sake, I cannot comment much except, it was drinkable. (The best sake I have drank was in Ginza Okuda in Japan called ‘Southern Beauty’, read here)

Sake

We had a complimentary starter of fried soba chips and Japanese guacamole made from avocado, sashimi and fish roe. The thick soba chips needed some jaw action but the flavoursome creamy guacamole with a spicy kick made up for the effort.

Soba Chips

My friend who is also a photographer had suggested me to buy the Lumix TZ40, and since I could not get the wifi to function on my camera even after consulting the instruction booklet, he had to show me how. QED (Quite Easily Done) – aka the instruction manual was poorly written. 🙂 We then compared notes, he took some pictures with his Lumix GF6, his pictures are slightly darker than mine,but otherwise pretty similar. Kudos to him for understanding my needs and good recommendation – I prefer my lighter Lumix with a wifi function over his GF6.

Next to arrive was my main for my set dinner which also came as our appetiser. The assorted sashimi was the finest I’ve had for a long time, very fresh and served at the right temperature. I especially like the thick salmon sashimi which went very well with the hand grated wasabi. I won’t mind coming here solely for the assorted sashimi platter the next time around.

Assorted Sashimi

Our individual platter of assorted appetiser was also very prettily presented and interesting. We have cold soba in light soy in a spoon (with a tiny leaf on top), a vinegared oyster in light batter, 2 pieces of tamago (egg rolls), sweet and sour cold pickled vegetables and a piece of fried fish. At this stage, I am starting to feel suddenly very full…

Appetisers

Then my friend’s main course of grilled fish followed. Tender, juicy and smelling buttery, it was perfectly grilled with flaking meat. The buckwheat in miso sauce presented in a hollowed out cucumber added extra umami to the fish.

Grilled Fish

While busy attacking the fish, our Okonomiyaki of Wagyu beef and garlic chips made its appearance. It came on a metal plate, beautifully decorated with soy and mayo sauces. I normally scrap all dressing off my foods, but I made an exception for this one and added extra bonito and seaweed flakes that came in a tin that accompanied the okonomiyaki. In any regards, the pan-cake was too doughy and thick for me. I would prefer a slightly thinner and crispier pancake instead.

Okonomiyaki

My final course was the Soba Course. I ordered the Walnut Soba (hot). I am very happy with my choice as I had never came across walnut broth before. The broth was a thick savoury soup made from grounded walnut, with the natural nutty sweetness. There are also 2 types of mushrooms and chicken pieces to’ lift’ the soup. The thin soba was firm with grainy texture.

Walnut Soba

My friend’s Soba Course was the Duck Soba (cold). The noodles sit on a bamboo mat on a clay bowl together with a separate ceramic bowl of dashi broth to dip the noodles in. (I have noticed at the back of the menu that there is an interesting ritual to eat soba. First, take time to appreciate the presentation of the soba, secondly smell the fragrance of the soba, then dip the soba into the bowl to thoroughly enjoy the pleasure of eating the soba)

Cold Soba with Duck Broth

Finally, sobayuwhich is basically the water in which the soba was cooked in made its appearance in a kettle. My friend dutifully poured the sobayu into his duck broth and finished up the heartwarming soup. (Burp!)

Sobayu

We were well looked after by the part-time staffs who introduced each dish to us as they arrived and made sure our drinking glass is never empty. Ju Ge Mu & Shimbashi is truly a neighbourhood restaurant since we were nearly the last table by 8pm. With perfectly handmade soba noodles, it deserves many revisits!

At the time of review Ju Ge Mu & Shimbashi scored 91% out of 245 votes in Urbanspoon.

Getting a simple ala carte dinner during the Ramadan month is pretty hard to come by in most hotels. This is because Ramadan is time for the hoteliers to cash in on the all-you-can-eat-iftar-buffet. The iftar buffet is a lavish affair and very popular so advanced reservations are required. I gather that most companies are also using Ramadan as company dinners as well.

However, doesn’t this debase the religious purpose of fasting for spiritual purification into a simply indoctrinated practice of not eating during the day for fear of prosecution by the religious police turning into food-frenzy come sun-set? This is also not particularly healthy.

Moreover, I was unsettled by an article that a friend of mine sent me the other day. Non-Muslim students eating in the toilet? That is simply a no-no… Check out the link here for the complete story. In a seemingly peaceful multi-cultural country like Malaysia, one would expect harmony and tolerance but unfortunately tensions on the racial divides runs underneath.

Anyway, without digressing further, off to my Sundown Set-dinner at the Harrods Cafe in Suria KLCC. Among all the cafes in KLCC, I particularly like Harrods Cafe for the clean and bright ambience. There is a bit of a posh English expat touch to the interior from the white-washed timber panelling, tiled floors, cane chairs, quirky Harrods boater hats that the wait-staffs wear, down to the cutleries and china!

Interior and server

Sundown Set Dinner @RM52 per person.

Sundown Special Set Dinner

First to arrive were 2 types of juices – mango juice, orange juice and a mug of English Tea Teh Tarik. Apparently, this English Teh Tarik is only available in Malaysia! We were suprised that they all came at once. As usual, the drinks were overly sweet, however in the break fast context probably to give the much needed energy boost after a day of fasting, I presume. I like the ‘teh tarik’ (pulled tea) which has a frothy head, I particularly like the tannic vanillin tea taste.

A short wait later, our soup of the day, the pumpkin soup arrived with some toasted bread. The server very nicely cracked some black pepper over it.

Top: DrinksBottom: Soup

Service was very slow that night, and I noticed the Muslims were all not eating. They were only drinking the 3 drinks and eating the dessert platter, which I found odd. Then at the stroke at 7:30pm, the in-house speaker piped in the evening prayers. From then on, the service caught up, and we got our mains.

My dining companions chose from the Western Delights, pictures below:

Pan-fried Fillet Beef with Black Pepper Sauce

Baked Perch Fillet with Butter Caper Sauce

I chose from the Local Flavours which came with biryani rice. My lukewarm perch fillet was accompanied by the tamarind vegetable curry, which was very ordinary. However, I like the dhal curry sauce in the small pot which has a strong nutmeg flavour in it.

Baked Perch Fillet with Tamarind Curry

Ending our dinner, we have 2 courses of desserts! I don’t particularly like the local desserts. The melting chocolate mousse cake was a disappointment. The other 3 types of savoury-sweet local kuihs were an acquired taste.

Left: Local desserts with datesRight: Fruits

Ramadan Decorations at Suria KLCC Mall

The Sundown Dinner was very ordinary, disappointing cafeteria-fare, however, since I am a regular at Harrod’s Cafe, here’s my recommendation:

The smallish Caesar Salad with anchovies and bruchetta.

Caesar Salad

Burger with fried-egg, Malaysian-style

Harrods Burger

Fish-fingers and Chips with tartare sauce and lemon

Fish and Chips

Honest-to-goodness, old fashioned Strawberry Cheesecake which is very popular and tasted fantastic.

Getting a flight ticket back to Sydney from Kuala Lumpur was quite a task, the closest date that I could get on Malaysian Airlines (MAS) was 1 week away, so I had to fly Singapore Airlines (SIA) instead. That meant I had to take a 2:20pm shuttle flight from Kuala Lumpur and transit in Singapore for a few hours for the connecting 8:20pm flight. Not a problem since it has been a long time since my last visit to Changi Airport. I also wanted to check-out the duty free shopping and to buy a new camera.

The following pictures were taken with my brand new camera, Lumix TZ40. There is a wifi connection on my camera, but I haven’t yet worked out how to operate it, so out came the memory card, fingers crossed and into my Mac… and no, I never read instructions, I just fiddle around…

Contrary to the popular belief that shopping in duty-free Singapore is ‘cheap’, I found otherwise. There is currently a Millionaire Lucky Draw at the airport, but the girl maning the store was very rude – and brought back ugly memories of the haughty Singaporean. One would have thought that with the amount of money spent on advertising Singapore to the World, the tourism board would at the very least train their personnels in basic etiquette, so as not to take their slogan “Get Lost”, so literally. (Check out the offensive ad here)

After a short wonder around Terminal 3… no, I didn’t bother with the new indoor Butterfly Park… I decided it’s high time to chillax at the Silver Kris Lounge and enjoy all the amenities since it was getting very hot and rather stuffy in the public area.

Inside the Silver Kris Lounge: I am very impressed with the chic design and layout of the lounge. I especially loved the personal space afforded for each seating area with its own luxurious space around it. This was very cleverly accomplished by the smart arranging of seats eg. putting sidetables and reading lights next to every chair or grouping chairs together for larger groups/ families. The chairs were comfortable for catching a quick nap or reading in peace.

Personal space segregated by putting side-table between each chairs

The Cafe Area easily transitions into a cozy eating area yet still appropriate for work. (I had some sandwiches at this station. There are egg mayo, veggies and roast chicken choices- all sandwiched in white processed bread, unfortunately)

Cafe-style Set-ups

I like the idea of communal seatings at the long granite bench. However, in my experience, I found that in the Asian context, it may be a tad boring (a bonus if you like privacy and to have the possession of the entire whole bench to yourself) since Asians don’t like sitting on high chairs with their feet dangling above the ground, they prefer low chairs… I noted as well that the highly-polished timber bar chairs were upholstered in golden gauze polyester fabric which does not make for comfortable sitting for too long.

Communal granite long bar seatings

A variety of seating arrangements ranging from leather chairs to bar chairs

The Buffet Area: Now, what was amazing about the lounge was the amount of food being served. I am especially impressed by the buffet area, which was done up like a Park Hyatt chain with scrumptious offerings in Asian and Western dishes. I am a light eater when I travel, so I didn’t sample any. The Japanese sushi and cold soba station looked interesting, but since it was uncovered, I did not want to risk a tummy-ache. I tried the cheese station but the melting cheeses did not look particularly appetising either. I also gave the dessert station a miss since I don’t like tiny mousey cakes.

Buffet Area in Silver Kris Lounge

The Bar Area: Now, this is me talking… my personal favourite. There are 2 types of reds and 2 types of whites to choose from (not notable wines). Beer on tap, a variety of harder alcohols and cappuccino/espresso/coffee machine. Naturally, I chose my favourite tipple which is a champagne to kick off my homebound journey. The champs is a Delamontte, a quaffable champs with not much of a character, but fizzy enough to make me bubbly. I guess the nuts, nachos and potato chips at bar are very popular since I had to make a couple of return trips for them to be refilled.

Bar Area (front)

Bar area (back)

The Shower Facilities: There are 4 shower cubicles which are very well used since I had to wait for my turn. What turned me off was that it was not manned, I had to wait for my turn and use the dirty cubicle which was rather unhygienic to say the least. (Cathay Pacific and MAS has a personnel station that mans the showers facilities and clean up after each users.)

Orchids: Singapore’s National Flower

On-board the A380: SIA is seriously the most stingy kiasu airline! Only a pair of socks and a sleep shade for bizo class? What?! I get a whole Agnes B amenities kit even for flying the KL-HKG route! I get the full-works from MAS in a Tumi kit for KL-SYD route. Gosh! Wi-fi on-board, did you say, but you need your credit card to activate it. Why, I get free wifi on Turkish and Emirates Airlines even on coach class! Anyway, let’s not get worked up about this, the wifi system did not work…

In-flight Entertainment: I watched 2 movies, ‘G.I Joe: Retaliation‘ (because I want to see Channing, Willis and the cool Korean actor… either I was slow or tired, I couldn’t catch the story line), and ‘Hotel Deluxe ‘, (a super darn funny Cantonese movie – must get DVD!)

Sleep: The largest lie-flat bed, did you say? Well, I’m a dork, I needed assistance. I even needed assistance to get my seat to recline! I guess age, even the 5 short years, did not bear well for the A380… Even though I had a good sleep on-board, I still slept the entire day when I arrived home. This is what one calls ‘stress’, and travelling is very stressful!

It’s wonderful to be back home in Sydney. With only less than a month to stay, I have a lot of rather mundane things to organise, like getting my eyes checked for my new Ortho-K (ticked), dental appointment, a visit to my GP, get a hair cut, schedule a some work meetings and also to make time to catch up with my friends. The short 3 weeks will fly away very quickly.

In any regards, I am truly happy to be back. I went out running this evening. I gotta say running in 32C+ heat in Malaysia is making me a stronger runner now.

Here are some iPhone pics of the golden hour at the Milsons Point esplanade. I have to stop every now to look up at the clouds. Gorgeous, don’t you think? I also saw Tim the weatherman from Channel 10 on location reporting the weather for the evening news.

Meetings are the serious side of business – and becoming almost fun in The Boo and a source of entertainment second to watching bootleg DVDs easily sourced from the local mall.

Now, anyone who has ever participated in group projects will know that a meeting is a platform to put forward issues to be discussed, sorted, reviewed, assessed or negotiated. Most importantly, meetings help to improve communication channels and the information gathering process in order to ‘seal the deal’.

Suffice to say, I am made to endure monthly meetings in The Boo which tangent off the norm whereby the person calling the meetings works on his own personal vendetta in maliciously discrediting another member without the knowledge of business operation nor management, much less in bringing about a constructive and productive end-result, in the end, he achieved nothing other than making a fool of himself and wasting people’s time. This cycle (meetings – we have at least 10 in 1 day! Go figure!) repeats every month timed to his sibling’s return from overseas.

Of course a lot of groundwork has to be done beforehand, that in gaining support of the other free-loading members, Untruths are easy to dispell and accepted when benefits are involved. It is the conscience that has to be overcame,that’s when Lord Almighty comes in, “Our Father who art in Heaven, I come visit every Sunday”, and thus let meself be known as good-standin’ Christian. Heck! Ain’t know how tah read dah Bible ‘tho! No probs bro, just show dah face up! And thus, a town of sinners redeemed by the numerous Churches of different secs came. (Yeah, I see a Church to the left and out to the right of my apartment window)

As always and without fail, meetings has to be kicked off by the self-crowned Chairman-cum-MD (was cum Company Secretary as well before the legal eagles said “no can do”) for quorum. Torture then proceeds with his reading from the agenda. His oft side-kick aka his son aka drop-kick will thus read from his own set of script prepared by solicitors (paid no less from the Company’s coffers) and duly responded by the father by reading from his own set of scripts! Back-and-forth and back-and-froth, seriously dudes your show/ duo-logue is bad – neither convincing nor deserving of the fudly TV – rewind and repeat, I doze off and can even repeat your lines. And why can’t you?

So Friday was one of those days, my first meeting started at 8:45am. The only misnomer was that I had been kept awake by the annoying neighbourhood mutt which could not stop barking from 2am and was still going on when I left home at 7am. Tired and irritable, the fun of seeing people putting on a monkey-show reading from prepared scripts is wearing thin. To break the monotony, I asked some questions, they can’t answer, irritated, they proceeded to raise their voice, then toned down when they realise they are losing their cool. The indignant me asked some more questions and you see their faces darken. Anyway, not in the mood to bicker, I have more important thing to do, say, “Toodle-doo, am ducking home Down-under. Got a flight to catch. See ya later, ta-tah!” . I see their faces drop in disappointment, “What?”. Sorry, dudes, I know you have prepped for 2 nights, judging from your Panda-eyes, but you can repeat your performance 6 more times yourselves – just tape record it and sent me the minutes, no? . I pray that the chills awaits as I have a brand new Christopher Kane fur jacket mom bought for me hanging in my wardrobe.

With plenty of time, I swung by Sing Mee Kee Coffee Shop for the famous ‘Soon Kai’s Kampua’, named after a politician by his cronies because that was the kampua (dry tossed noodles) stall he often frequented. Much like tbe expired politician facing his twilight years battling Parkinson, this ordinary plate of tossed noodles in MSG and oil/ lard is cold, tasteless and unmemorable if not for its namesake.

Kampua, dry tossed noodles traditionally in lard that Sibu is famous for

Much flavoursome and memorable was my inflight meal from Sibu to Kuala Lumpur. A Chicken Korma in thick peanut gravy, pickled vegetables and Biryani rice served piping hot. The sweet beef vermiceli was delicious, ate the marashino cherry but better leave the old-school Black Forest cake with mock cream untouched.

MAS Inflight Meal from Sibu to KL

[Disclaimer: Under the influence of a cheap Champers in the Kris Lounge, Changi Airport, I wrote this post on a strictly without prejudice basis whilst awaiting for my flight home to Sydney tonight. So see yu later alligators, when I’m back in Sy-der-ney!]

Another floating birdie craze in the making by way of Hong Kong, now arriving Malaysia?

Gosh! (Aint’ Florentijn gonna make a bundle out of his copyrights? The artist’s page is here if you are so inclined)

The news article explained that this is the RM60,000 “Water UBAH” mascot funded by the DAP political party supporters and sponsors which went afloat on July 15 in Penang (‘Ubah’ means ‘change’ in Malay). The PVC rubber UBAH hornbill was completed in two months and inspired by Florentijn Hofman’s giant floating Rubber Duck which went viral worldwide after docking in Hong Kong. Weighing approximately 250kg, the UBAH hornbill stands half the original Giant Rubber Duck size of 16.5m, at a mere 7.6m tall and 8m wide.

Hang on, the naysayers rightly pointed out, ‘Hornbills can’t swim!’

Why of course! However, if you step a bit closer, mind the water’s edge, the hornbill is sun-bathing on a buoy! Humph!

Let me rewind back to an early post entry of the Giant Rubber Duck in Sydney Festival earlier this year (here). (And I CANNOT recall the Duck making such a phenomenal splash in Sydney as it did in Hong Kong)

Since I was in Hong Kong in June, I can tell you of the maddening crowds that gathered at Ocean Terminal where it was berthed for a month. There were scores of people each day competing to take pictures with the Rubber Duck, there were duck memorabilia everywhere and duck merchandises for sale. Even the property owner of Ocean Terminal, The Wharf Holding’s Ltd (SEHK:0004) stock price jumped 10%! This was how crazy Hong Kong was about the Rubber Duck!

The 16.5-meter-high inflatable sculpture, which made its first public appearance in Hong Kong on May 2, was on showcase at the Ocean Terminal for a month.

Duck against the backdrop of Victoria Harbour

Additional Duck Art in front of Ocean Terminal

Angle taken from Star Ferry

Duck Promos inside Ocean Terminal Mall

Even restaurants geared up to the Duck’s crazies by creating special duck dishes. This was my friend’s photo and if you google hard enough, you will find a lot of creative and interesting dishes created especially to celebrate the arrival of the Duck.

Special Duck Creation

Then rather unceremoniously, it ‘died’. Rumour had it that it was deflated for maintenance reasons. Mini discontent ensued since some tourists from the Super-nations had toured to Hong Kong especially to take photos of this now Dead Duck.

Duck DyingSource: Flickr

About a week later, the Duck arisen and made everyone happy again. The said Duck then set sail from Hong Kong on June 8 to an unknown destinations, possibly somewhere in America?

No matter how silly the whole Duck scenario was, it added a touch of light-hearted fun and childhood nostalgia into the lives of the otherwise ordinary mundane lives of people. Can this Floating UBAH Hornbill in Penang do the same (if not for political change, then creativity in the local arena?)